what's the deal with F1

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racefan against nascare

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i'd like to get interested in F1...i've only seen a few F1 races, but this year's monaco gp was the only one i've ever found interesting. with so many people saying how great it is, i think i must just be missing something.

among things i would like to have explained...

1. why is 30-something considered too old to enter f1? i always hear that they are the best drivers in the world, but how can someone who's barely 20 have established himself as being one of the greatest?

2. along the "greatest" line of thought...why do they have all the extra computer help? i understand that without the help, people wouldn't be able to drive the cars because of the horsepower and all that, but why don't they just design cars that would be driveable by the best drivers?

3. is it ferrari or schumacher? why does he dominate so often?

4. how can i tell the difference between bar, toyota, etc.? i can spot the red and white ferraris and see the big honda sign on the wings of hondas, and i know one of them (the renault?) has a different style front end, but other than that i can't tell the difference, don't know what difference the differences make, and don't know who drives what.

as a life-long stock car fan, i don't understand much beyond "rubbin's racin'" and "go fast, turn left." i'd really like to broaden my horizons, though, so anyone that can give me some background on who and/or what to watch for, along with anything else that'll help me get more interested in those bad asterisk 19,000 rpm racing machines, would definately help me out.

thanks,

disgruntled (former) nascare fan
 
Hey Welcome to the F1 Board! Always great to get new blood around here. I would also be more than happy to answer any questions you can come up with.

#0- your missing last season is what it is. Last season was spectacular, crashes in every race, no ferrari domination, new race winners, just an overall great season, and it raised everyones hopes that this year would be all that and more. Well, as you can guess, everyone is very disappointed... :unsure:

#1- The age factor isnt as extreme as it seems. Micheal Shumacher is in his mid 30's, Oliver Panis is like 35... Just young "kids" seem to have lightening quick reflexes and that is a must to drive these cars quick. Since you watch Nascar, you probably have been seeing the same thing happen there also. The "Young Guns" have really taken the sport by the throat...

#2- Computer help isnt as much as you think, as far as driving the cars. Last year they had traction control and launch control (for starts pit stops), this year they dont have that. Traction control is sorta allowed, and on the other hand not....its a fine line. Basically traction control is able to kick in at like 100 mph and up... In my mind that really dont help anything, by that time they are in like 2nd or third gear, and have enough power already down to not need the traction control... But it will be totally banned next season. Other PC help is basically anti-stall software, where the car automatically senses a stall and puts the car into nuetral. Other than that, there aren't any aids that really help a driver drive the car. The rest of the high tech electronics are in the engine and gearboxes to handle those 19,000 rpms.... ^_^

#3- It is Shumacher more than Ferrari. He entered the sport back in 1991, and did amazing things in cars that were considered "dogs" by Nascar terms...Ferrari has really bonded together around him, and thus he gets great reliability and a very quick car. Other teams are beginning to see this and take note. But a flat out answer, Shumacher is why Ferrari is so dominate.

#4- Telling the difference.....First rule of F1, every team manufactures and designs their own chassis! There arent just a couple makes like Nascar. There are 10 makes, and each one is very different from the next, regardless if they look alike. Teams tend to "borrow" or test designs that seem to work well on other cars, so that is why some look very similiar to others. For an example, Ferrari and Sauber. Painted very different, but if you look at the fine details, they are very close. I am guessing that you picked up on each team having two cars. So memorizing helmets is a must if you want to see who's who.
Below are the team(engine) description (main sponser)
Ferrari (Ferrari)- Scarlet red
Sauber (Ferrari)- blue and light green, white nose (redbull)
McLaren (Mercedes)- black and silver, really skinny nose (west)
Williams (BMW)- white and blue, wide nose (HP)
Renault (Renault)- light blue and yellow (mild seven)
Jordan (Ford)- yellow and black (trust)
Jaguar( Ford)- white and green (HSBC)
Toyota( Toyota)- white and red (Panasonic)
Minardi (Ford)- black, little green (Trust)
BAR (Honda)- white (Lucky Strike)

Anything else??? :p
 
thanks...i think i need to write down them descriptions...lol.
 
Answer to all your questions: You have to go to watch the races a few times and listen to the commentators and learn everything. i know half of the drivers and next to the IRL the F1 rocks.
 
"You have to go to watch the races a few times"...funny.

i think i know what you mean, i just had to laugh because i'm in the wrong part of the US and i'm too poor to go to an f1 race...but sunday IS my birthday, so maybe someone will give me tickets (race and airline) in the next couple of days...

i'll begin holding my breath...now.
 
Yea the F1 tickets are dirt cheap NOT . We are going to sit in the mounds which is 25 dollars general admission but you gotta get there early to get a good spot. Yea ticket prices are outrageous. they wonder why attendance is low is because of there high ticket prices. :EEEEK:
 
ya, they are outrageous! I went to indy in 2002, and paid a hefty 85 USD for grandstand seats.....but you know what! It was well worth it! I cant wait to go next year, I am doing the entire weekend, thursday walk-about and all!!!!
 
GHAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSSPPPPPPPPP!

dagned it, nobdoy got me tciktis...i'm srue gald i konw how to hlod my brateh so lnog, and i dno't tunhk i've sffuerd any diran bramage, etiher.
 
yea some really nice people gave us extra tickets today in the Finish line but we sat on the mounds :p
 
Any form of racing is a bit boring and confusing until you watch several races and "get to know" drivers and teams and get aquainted a bit with their rules.

I'm a NASCAR fan, I live on the west coast and I get up every Sunday there's a F-1 race at 4:30am to watch. Yea, I could catch the replays in the evening at a more reasonable hour but.......... :D
Of course I'm a race fan, I love it all.

Hey racefan against nascare, am I going to see you at Irwindale this Sat. night? Hope so, sounds like we may have a lot in common. Dragonlady wants to meet ya too. :cheers:
 
nope...right now i'm in oregon, but i'm going back to cali this week...it'll likely be a couple paychacks before i get to any tracks.

once i start going, i might go to irwindale on turkey night. otherwise, i'd go the extra distance to orange show, and i want to get to ventura, oildale, perris, hesperia, and temecula. wow...for not being a "racing area" (as some people would claim), there sure are a bunch of racetracks around LA...

it could all be moot, though. i'm probably going to have to work every saturday night unless i go on vacation, and i'm gonna use all my available vaction time visiting oregon. so turkey night might be the only opportunity to see any live race.
 
Where does all the money come from in f1?? I know you say the ticket prices are outrageous but from what I have seen they dont seem to be much worse then nascar.

I herd micheal s. makes as much money in 1 season as jeff gordon (the highest paid nascar driver) has gotten paid in his whole career.

Nascars total prize payout last year: 22 million ( according to anouncers in a recent race)

Micheal S. Salary year 2000: over 59 million

Jeff gordon's career earnings: 60 million
 
his salary now is like 70 million michael s. i dont know its the sponsers that are willing to support 450 million dollar budget teams like ferrari and 30 million dollar teams like minardi ccosworth
 
i think some of the answers are:

1. nascare keeps a larger piece of the pie for themselves than fia does.

2. nascare splits the money among 43 teams each week rather than f1's 20.

3. nascare is the biggest racing organization in the US, but f1 is the biggest in the world, so the car sponsors in f1 get seen by more people throughout the world than nascare gets by just the US audience.

4. f1 races are considered to be truley large sporting events throughout europe...nascare, on the other hand, does not have that respect by many people outside the stock car racing world. US drivers don't make nearly the amount of money as athletes in other American sports...while in europe, it seems like soccer and f1 racing are 2 of the largest sports.

5. because of the supply. while there might not be as many races in the US that can drive as well as gordon and stewart, there are plenty enough people capable of driving a cup car could step in for the top cup drivers in a heartbeat and do reasonably well if the top drivers decided to try to hold out for more money.

f1, on the other hand, has a whole bunch of elements involved that makes schumacher much harder to replace.

(case in point, the 3/29 cup car...i don't think there is any way to say that harvick is as good as Earnhardt was, yet kevin won in his third cup race. i doubt that someone could just jump into michael's ferarri and pull off a win.)
 
With all the sponsor money, I've never understood why they only have 20 cars on the grid. At Indy only 10 finished. <_<
 
Because everything cost's so much these day's in racing especially Formula 1. I mean heck it costed 500,000 dollars to lease an engine at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway at the Indy 500. I mean everything costs so much thats why . :cuckoo:
 
Can you imagine what it costs to pack up 4 cars and equipment and entire teams and ship them all over the world about everyother week?
 
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